The Taste of Alcohol
by MidnightHeir
Summary: They were trying to help, to have everything ready for Don. Shame they missed a trick. Fic challenge A serious tale with a drunk Leonardo.


_**The Taste of Alcohol**_

_Disclaimer -_ Don't own em, never will. Thanks for Muse for the beta and assist in sorting out the opening. Response to a fic challenge set by Pi - serious story and Leo drunk. Enjoy!

It had meant to be a brilliant idea- it had meant to be the start of a beautiful plan that would have everything neatly dealt with by the time that Don got here. Leo frowned, this had started as the brain child of Casey and Raphael, a fact that was starting to show.

Grimacing against the pressure that was being applied to his side he waited for what would come next. Liquor was being poured all over his mouth, it ran up his nostrils over the cracks in his skin and as he jerked and pulled his face away from the open bottle droplets got into his eyes. Those stray drops were enough for him to break the fierce grip his teeth had been making on the inside of his lips so that a little of the liquid fell onto his tongue with every hissed gasp of pain. The burn of the liquid wasn't as bad as it had been previously which meant that he must be losing the fight but it didn't stop him from struggling. Shadows danced all over the place when he jerked his head away from the cascade of dark whiskey that was literally following his face where ever he angled it. There was a pause in the deluge of alcohol and the turtle felt a towel being ran over his cheeks and eyes.

"Sorry Leo …" Casey's voice was strained, "But ya gotta drink."

If Leonardo believed that they weren't going to force feed him more, he'd answer the man. Instead he focused on the other person in the room.

"Damnit Leo!" Raph reeled away from his brother's bucked hip.

_Raph_ Leo's eyes rolled a little, he hadn't expected Raphael to be at Casey's when he'd turned up at the man's apartment window. It had been enough of a surprise to see Casey with a giant foam hand attached to his hand and yelling at the television that he had staggered. He should have realized, staggering like that … this night wasn't going to have the best of ends. _Focus_ The deluge wasn't occurring which meant that the two were plotting and plotting wasn't a good thing. No … plotting was a baad thing. Previous pauses had only occurred when the bottle that had been poured onto his face had been emptied and consequentially discarded. The bottle of whiskey, that one was full, Raphael had had fun keeping his brother pinned when Casey had disappeared to get that one only a few minutes ago.

"YAAGH!"

Every part of his body objected to whatever that had been. They had poured … his head shook viscously clearing away the white hot burning that had originated from his side and radiated outwards. Leonardo's legs tingled and his shoulders tensed against the futon that was tucked beneath his head. The sensation raced through his mind confusing everything but never the less accompanied by a gentle buzz. A _good_ buzz that left his finger tips and toes pleasantly numb.

"Jeez." Casey didn't sound quite as close as he had before. "Ya think they heard that?"

"C'mon Bro." Raphael had swapped spots with Casey that was the only logical reason as to why there was something in his mouth, tipped backwards and slowly drowning him in good old Jack. Leonardo struggled against the feed but his co-ordination was failing before when he had tried to push the bottles that Casey had been using to drench him with he'd done a good job of diverting some of the contents. "That's it." Raph gently encouraged him watching his brother's cheeks bloat as more whiskey was poured into the cavity. "Good?"

The liquor had no where to go and nothing to do except fill up his mouth and burn his tongue. Raphael was much better at guessing where he was going to pull and twist. Twice he pulled against the glass teat only to find that it followed him more or less squarely. The liquor was starting to fill up his nostrils from the inside an experience that was only surpassed in sheer discomfort by having it trickle down from the outside in. Vision that was starting to blur locked onto Raphael when a small amount started to bubble up around one corner of his mouth. The angle of the bottle altered and it stopped flowing altogether. A second longer and something started to stroke the top of his throat encouraging him to swallow it all down.

Leonardo was not swallowing this.

He was not swallowing it.

He was not - … it burnt the back of his throat when it went down causing him to cough hollowly once or twice. The bottle wasn't pressed against his teeth any longer giving him a chance to talk if he wanted to, once he was finished panting …and Raphael … and Casey. Exercise and alcohol did not mix well, the numb sensation in his hands and feet was spreading and … and … he tried to focus at the blurry outline of his brother who was muttering to Casey about something. With nothing to fight, ooo fight! Leonardo's eyes widened and he twisted towards the shut window he had come in before.

"Leo!" Raphael's hands clamped onto his shoulders and pulled him back round so that he was facing him, head back against the alcohol soaked pillow and shoulders pressed onto the bed. He looked worried, a little tense even. "_Don't_ do that, yo' just stay still."

"B-but …" Leo began, halting when his brother shared a slightly confused look with Casey.

"Guess that answers ya question Case."

"There's Foot out there!" Leo interjected over the top of any potential conversation.

"We…" Raph turned back sharply "know!" Yes, it had taken about ten minutes and two and a half bottles but Leo was indeed smashed. Not falling off the wagon, not trying to keep everything together behind a veneer of control but drunk. In all fairness he ought to be, the two of them had been trying hard enough. Normally in ten minutes Don, Mike and all medical stuff would be present and correct but with the soldiers that Leo had brought into the area … there might be a bit of a delay.

"I'm gonna do something with this." Casey murmured picking up the sodden foam hand. Turning on his knees he tentatively released Leonardo's wounded side. The sheets had all got rather damp in the battle of wills between the three of them. Primarily the argument had hung on the crux of whether or not it would be quicker getting Leo to Don or Don to Leo and, had there not been a gash in Leonardo's side then they might have agreed with his reasoning. Getting Leo drunk whilst Don made his way across town to stitch up the mess made the most sense to two of the three which had resulted in the second part of the little spate. Hauling the stained sheets out of the room Casey dumped them in the bathroom ignoring the _drip, drip, drip_ that followed him through.

-x-

"Yo' want this?"

Raph clung to the half bottle of whiskey holding it at arms length from his brother. A brother who did not hold his head up particularly straight at this moment in time nor any other part of his body for that matter. Bleary eyes had settled on it and followed it hungrily before closing for varying periods of time. Some instances he blinked rapidly, at others Leo gave the impression of having passed out.

"Where's Don," Leo spoke a little faster and with a lot more flare when not measuring his diction or speed. Actually, that went a long way to describe most of his brother's current actions. If he was confused his brow knitted up, or concerned his eyes widened to large discs. He didn't appear to be an angry drunk or a quiet philosophical one. Nah, Leo's guard got flushed down the gutter leaving something that was surprisingly decent company. "Don should be here now, I should yell at him for being late, shouldn't I?" More thought was wasted on the subject, if he tried to shout at his brother he'd probably forget what it was he was shouting about, whilst Raph …"You can do it after he stitches me up."

"Hmmm …" Did Leo even think about the words that were tumbling out of his mouth? Probably not, he appeared to be riding out the adrenaline wave that had brought him to Casey's. Raph's eyes were watching the dark stain growing on current sheet stuffed over the wound. "I'm going t' fix that."

Leo considered it for a couple of seconds before nodding. The pain in his side had transformed into a dull ache that didn't worry him too much when he was living in a hazy world of alcohol fuelled spiel. The glass bottle was left to one side by his brother "One … two … three …" he murmured, the seven second rule, if it was left alone for that long then he could have the bottle and the buzz that was starting to fade back. Raphael probably shouldn't have taught him that rule when he had started to unwind. "... six …"

Leonardo's body twitched against the sharp jab to his torso. His limbs splayed outwards before settling down and relaying a selection of garbled messages. First off moving like that made the room spin in a manner that was oddly calming in a blurry unfocused kind or way. Second the dull ache in his side actually still hurt when prodded and that would need a remedy. Third he probably shouldn't have yelled out like that and finally he was never, ever going to let Raph do whatever he had just done again.

Raph was back and he looked a little different, "Sorry 'bout that." It looked like he had spilt the bottle, which Leo more or less computed was no where near Raphael, all over him. This being a bad thing since the bottle was something he very much wanted.

"No problem." A little over emphasis on the first word, never mind, it made for a more interesting chat, "That hurt." he added sadly after a small pause the sin appeared to be forgotten with a bright almost pleading request, " Bottle?"

It sounded like Raph suppressed a chuckle before carefully passing the bottle over to his brother. Leo snorted his eyes focused intently on the bottle that was moving in front of his eye whilst bringing it up to his mouth. It took a couple of attempts before the liquid he was pouring was actually going into his mouth as opposed to over it. Leonardo swallowed on instinct and continued to do so even as his vision blurred for the third time. Everything stretched out before him, freezing perfectly into place. Raphael was at his side humming softly and making a strange ripping sound that he was reasonably sure meant something was wrong. Casey came back through and put something down onto the floor. Outside a light shone through the window and illuminated almost everything – a freestanding wardrobe, dresser, night light. The warm tingly sensation that had been building up behind Leonardo's eyes had spread throughout Leo's entire body by his third generous gulp, bringing with it a much needed respite from the world around him.

Before passing out a nagging thought tugged at his stream of consciousness but Leo batted it aside. The arm clutching the bottle lolled, falling sideways and dragging the near empty bottle with it. Raph moved to catch it placing it on the side table, he saw that though his deep breaths suggested he wouldn't remember it.

It could wait until later …

-x-

Leo let out a low groan and opened his eyes to a pleasant buzzing sensation that was marginally cooler than he had been before. One arm moved awkwardly up to rub his face with an open palm though it didn't help clear up his smoothly undulating double vision.

"Hey!"

"Don!" Contrary to staying still as the call had hinted Leo moved even more, tilting his head up and smiling brightly. "Don's here!" he repeated cheerily, "RAPH." Leo twitched his head around in search of his brother. "Donnie's here."

"Raph knows I'm here." Don interjected softly.

One arm weaved its way out towards the window "There's _Foot_ out there." Don tried to move the limb down so that it wasn't in the way. "They _followed_ me."

"Yes, I know that too. It would have been nice to have known that before I left actually."

A long sigh slipped out causing Don to look up at his sibling. Upon arrival he had been apprised of the situation by Raphael and Casey one that had not best pleased him. The Foot lurking around the neighborhood had been one thing he could deal with, a rather drunk brother who looked decidedly bored and had an insanely upbeat approach to everything at this moment in time proved novel. The combination of a bleeder and the method of preparing him for meatball surgery, not so much.

"Leo, how are you feeling?"

"Great! You look maaad."

"Define great for me, if you please."

"And bored."

"I'm just fixing something in your side, it needs my concentration."

"Hmmm…" Blinking, Leonardo tried to focus on something, his head rolled to one side and a smile spread over his face. His bottle was propped up there … he wanted that … maybe if he focused on it enough he would be able to get a hold of it. His first grab missed by quite a way. Narrowing his eyes, he tried again this time colliding with something soft and green, lunging a third time he managed to get a hold of it. Clutching it tightly he fell back on to the pillow with a proud smile spread on his face. Hands clumsily moved over it looking for the open top.

"Pleased with yourself?"

"Uh huh."

There was a soft hissing sound that Leonardo didn't respond to. "You haven't got a clue what is going on, have you?"

"The lid is on. Why is the lid on? I didn't put the lid on…"

It was Don's turn to suppress a small laugh. "I'll take that as a 'yes'. This is going to hurt... and in a standing testament to preparation methodology you didn't feel a thing, did you?"

"Open this?"

"I really think you've had enough."

"Please."

Don studied the wound then looked at his brother's beseeching face, he hadn't moved it from the pillow since he had woken up and made the ill advised lurch for the bottle. The eyes were undeniably red around a brown iris and he stared back at Don before smiling widely and offering him the bottle. "Okay, I'll cut you a deal, I'll give you back the bottle you're coveting like a teddy bear if you swear you will not get up off this bed whilst I pop next door."

"Beds good."

Don sighed, and straightened up, in one hand he held his brother's prized possession but with the recognition that he was on a comfortable bed his attention and focus had altered once again. Putting the bottle to one side a plastic sheet was unfolded and laid over his brother's middle only to have a sheet accompany it and a blanket after that. Running his hand over his brother's brow just once Don watched him drift off for what he hoped would be for the rest of the night.

Standing he glanced over at the partially open door time to bring this thing home. Sliding through the gap he kept his voice low yet stern, "Whilst I appreciate the assist, alcohol thins blood, he should be dead. Next time you want to help, don't."


End file.
